OAKLAND, California (Ticker) -- The Golden State Warriors spent
all night trying to make up for a poor first quarter, but Grant
Hill made sure they never did.

Hill scored 10 of his 25 points in the first quarter when
Detroit pulled ahead for good and also buried a pair of clutch
jumpers down the stretch as the Pistons held off the Warriors,
116-108.

The versatile swingman buried 11-of-20 shots, including 4-of-6
in the opening 12 minutes when the Pistons raced to a commanding
42-26 lead. Detroit never trailed, but watched the Warriors
close within 103-99 with 2:11 to play on John Starks' jumper
from the left side.

Hill, who left Tuesday's loss in Phoenix with a left hip flexor,
responded by framing a three-point play by Christian Laettner
with a pair of long jumpers as Detroit re-established control,
110-101, with under a minute to play.

"I'll be honest, we were tired but we needed a win," Hill said.
"We were desperate, a little like Golden State. Sometimes (a
big lead ) could be the worst thing. You know a team is going
to make a run. You just have to withstand the run and fight
through it."

Jerry Stackhouse scored 23 points and Laettner added 19 for
Detroit, which snapped a two-game skid with its seventh straight
win against the Warriors.

"It's so hard to maintain leads in this league," Stackhouse
said. "They had a whole lot of momentum coming down the
stretch, but we were able to maintain the lead. We just had to
keep having to grind it our, but we'll take it."

Starks scored 22 points on 9-of-17 shooting and Donyell Marshall
returned from the injured list and had 16 points and 10 rebounds
in 32 minutes. But the Warriors were never able to make up for
their poor start and had their season-high three-game winning
streak snapped.

Jason Caffey had 21 points and 11 rebounds for Golden State,
which was without leading scorer Antawn Jamison for a second
straight game due to a strained left hip flexor. The Warriors
lost point guard Mookie Blaylock in the first quarter with a
left calf strain and forward Terry Cummings to a groin strain in
the second half.

"It's tough, it's very tough," Starks said. "You have to fight
through it. When you've won three games in a row and two of your
players go down, it's tough. You're doing all you can to
compete and it takes a lot out of you."

"When I was in New York, we'd be lucky if we had two people
sitting out," he added. "I've never seen anything like it. We
should bring in a voodoo lady to take the curse off."

Terry Mills capped a game-opening 11-0 run with a 24-footer from
the right sideline just under 3 1/2 minutes into play and the
Pistons never looked back. The 42 points were the most the
Warriors have surrendered in any quarter this season.

Stackhouse ended the dominant period with an emphatic slam that
made it 42-26 with 23 seconds left in the opening period.

"It's a win that we desperately needed and it's a win on the
road," Detroit coach Alvin Gentry said. "I don't care who you
play, it's a win on the road. We understood that they were
playing very well and we also knew that we had to play well,
too, to beat them."

Jerome Williams and Michael Curry each had 12 points off the
bench for the Pistons, who shot 51 percent (38-of-75) and scored
23 points off 18 turnovers.

Rookie Vonteego Cummings scored 18 points for Golden State,
which shot 41 percent (38-of-92) and held a 51-41 advantage on
the boards.

Stackhouse made two free throws to give Detroit what appeared to
be a safe 97-81 lead with 7:52 to play.

But Marshall drained a 3-pointer to spark a 10-2 run that was
capped by Starks' 24-footer, cutting the deficit to 97-88 with
6:12 remaining.

The teams traded baskets over the next two minutes, but Starks
again hit from beyond the arc, Bill Curley made a 16-footer
before Chris Mills' jumper shaved the lead to 101-97 with 3:12
left.

"In the first half, we spotted them too many points," Mills
said. "We played terrible defense and dug ourselves a hole. We
tried to climb out, but they made some big baskets in the last
two minutes."

"What did we score in that first quarter, 42? That doesn't mean
a whole lot in the NBA," Gentry added.

Cummings and Hill traded jumpers before the Pistons pulled away
for good.